App #49: Daybook Pro: Teachers, this is the day-plan app you’ve all been waiting for!

Daybook Pro may well be the day-plan app that educators have been waiting for since the inception of the iPad. I am super excited to use Daybook Pro this upcoming school year. Cloud integration is key for me, as I still like to use my PCs to both plan my lessons and access older Microsoft Office files that I’ve accumulated over the years. Daybook Pro, with its built-in cloud storage, will sync everything for me. Plan at home on your PC the evening before, and access everything thr next day on your iPad. Printing off lesson plans for supply teachers couldn’t be easier. Chances are your administrators still demand a paper copy of your lesson plans and/or unit plans. This is not a problem with this app: simply print off a PDF copy for school records. With a free 60-day trial for all teachers, this app is perfect for educators who wish to further implement their iPads in their everyday teaching. This is the very essence and purpose of this blog.

The following is a guest post from Peter Hubbard, Technology teacher and Director of Cloud School®:

Cloud School® has released the Daybook Pro iPad app for education on the Apple® App Store. The launch marks the first chapter in the Cloud School story. The app is a curriculum design and delivery solution, providing a fresh new way to teach using the iPad as the central tool to streamline the professional life of the teacher.

“We have created an exciting system that allows educators to create and share resource rich teaching content that is linked to curriculum objectives and meets industry standards. The app not only makes the process of designing and delivering lessons easier but also addresses the tedious paperwork demands which have become a large part of the profession. We want teachers to know this product has been built to make their professional life simpler and more enjoyable.”

Daybook Pro the first app of its kind developed to organise and streamline the actual process of teaching. The system is based around the creation of content in the form of Units. A Unit consists of a series of Learning Activities. Each Learning Activity is completely customizable and contains custom Text fields, Curriculum lists, Learning resources and a completion date field. Activities can be created or edited on the go and resources can be captured and added to Activities at any time. For example, a science experiment can be captured using the iPad video camera and added to an Activity as a work sample or for reference when teaching the Unit in the future. Website links, multimedia and any other file types can be added as resources to support an Activity. With a compatible video adapter lessons can be delivered directly from the iPad.

Entire Units can be stored in the user’s Library and reused or shared with other Daybook Pro users. Detailed PDF documentation of a unit can be created at any time and sent via email.

To provide a comprehensive solution, the Web App adds the ability to access and edit account data from a desktop computer.

“We’ve included the Web app and Cloud storage so a user can add existing teaching material, files and multimedia quickly and easily from a desktop computer. The iPad is obviously great in the classroom but when it comes to file management and large amounts of text input, the Web app comes in handy.”

Daybook Pro is a Cloud based subscription service which includes the iPad app, a Web app and 2GB of cloud storage for each user. The iPad app is free to download and a 60-day free trial is available to all users. Daybook Pro is the first in a suite of complementary education products planned for release by Cloud School®. “The dream is to create a global community where educators can easily share resource rich content”.

Daybook Pro is free to download and have a two month trial and more about the app can be found at http://www.daybookpro.com. After sixty days, you will be asked to make an in-app purchase to continue your access. Cost averages out to $1 per month for 2GB of cloud storage.

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This almost got me excited! the app stops short of actually filling in the critical need of being able to identify specific standards and benchmarks being used in the units! It’s not enough to say, I am using curriculum from the United States, the state of New York and which subject area.